Oklahoma’s pass rush is going to look different in the fall, but it won’t be starting from scratch.
R Mason Thomas is gone after finishing his final game in Norman on Dec. 19, when Oklahoma lost to Alabama in the College Football Playoff, and the Kansas City Chiefs took him in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft. For the Sooners, that means replacing the player who was their most feared edge threat in each of the last two seasons.
Thomas set the standard in 2025 with a 90.4 Pro Football Focus pass-rushing grade, the best on the team by a wide margin. That kind of production leaves a hole. Still, Oklahoma has several defenders who already showed they can get after the quarterback.
Taylor Wein looks like the safest bet to keep the pressure coming. His 75.4 pass-rush grade didn’t match Thomas’ level, but he was probably Oklahoma’s most dependable defensive player last season.
Wein finished with 15 tackles for loss and seven sacks, a huge jump after his first two seasons produced just two assisted tackles. That breakout earned him Second Team All-SEC honors in 2025, and the media named him to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team last week.
At 6-4 and 270 pounds, he has one defensive end spot locked in, and his role becomes even more important now that Thomas is off the roster.
There’s also room for more disruption from the second level. James Nesta barely played as a redshirt freshman in 2025, logging only 40 defensive snaps, but he made those snaps count.
He finished with four tackles, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry, and his 83.7 pass-rushing grade trailed only Thomas on the team. With Kip Lewis, Owen Heinecke and Cole Sullivan in the linebacker room, Oklahoma doesn’t need Nesta to be an every-down player, but he looks ready for a bigger workload.
Danny Okoye is another name to watch. He appeared in 11 games last season, played 107 defensive snaps and flashed the kind of ability that led Brent Venables to call him “the best pound-for-pound athlete” on the roster.
Okoye posted two tackles for loss, both sacks, and finished with a 74 PFF pass-rush grade despite not starting. Wein has one edge spot secured, while Okoye and rising senior Adepoju Adebawore will compete for the other side.
Even if they split snaps evenly, Okoye should still have plenty of chances to build on his redshirt freshman season.
And then there’s safety Michael Boganowski, whose role is set to grow after backing up Robert Spears-Jennings in 2025. Teammates and coaches have called Boganowski OU’s hardest hitter, and the Junction City, KS, native backed that up with 31 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack as a sophomore.
He played 245 defensive snaps last year and finished with a 68.9 PFF pass-rush grade. He also recorded a sack in OU’s spring game in April, and his physical style makes him a natural fit for defensive-back blitz packages.
Thomas is the headline departure, but Oklahoma still has multiple players who can make life miserable for quarterbacks. The names change. The pressure doesn’t have to.
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Oklahomas 2026 Offense Hinges On One Long Awaited Change
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For Oklahoma, this is about more than just shoring up one phase of the offense. The Sooners have returning players mixed with new additions, and the challenge now is turning that blend into a line and backfield that can hold up over a full season. The identity they are chasing is a more dependable, more physical attack, and fall camp will reveal how close they are to getting it before the spotlight tightens in September. [Read more 🡒]